Moscow officials grant approval for city’s first ever gay pride event

Moscow authorities gave permission on Tuesday to allow the first ever gay pride parade to be held in the Russian capital.

“After a five-year struggle, we have received permission from city hall to organize a gay pride parade on May 28,” Gay Russia association head Nikolai Alexeyev told AFP.

“This is a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all counts,” Alexeyev said.

Earlier attempts to stage gay rights rallies have been brutally suppressed in major Russian cities, with Moscow’s former mayor Yury Luzhkov once calling homosexuality “satanic”.

Separately, officials in Saint Petersburg said they will allow a similar demonstration to take place in Russia’s second city on May 1. The country’s imperial capital allowed its first gay rights parade in November.